Unions are once again taking part in the Rose Festival parades. Here’s a list of who to look for.

STARLIGHT PARADE

The Starlight Parade takes place 8-10 p.m. Saturday, June 3, starting at Waterfront Park near the Morrison Bridge and winding through downtown until it crosses I-405 at SW Taylor.

• LETTER CARRIERS National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82 will be dressed up as priority mail packages, marching along with a 15’ x 9’ float filled with some of the toys that arrive on doorsteps in boxes, like Patrick from Spongebob, a shark, and a unicorn.
• ELECTRICIANS IBEW Local 48 will once again be marching with a well-lit float (they’re electricians!) featuring a band. Members will march in two contingents: superheroes and a drill team of Rosie the Riveters.

GRAND FLORAL PARADE

The Grand Floral Parade takes place 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Saturday, June 10. It starts at Memorial Coliseum, goes east along Broadway and Weidler, south on MLK, and northeast on Lloyd Boulevard.

• ROSIE THE RIVETER, BACK IN A BIG WAY For several years now, women of IBEW Local 48 have marched in the Grand Floral Parade as a contingent of “Rosie the Riveters.” This year, they’ll be joined by women of Corvallis-area IBEW Local 280 and Seattle-area IBEW Local 46. And they’ll followed by a float put together by the American Rosie the Riveter Association presented by Boeing. Rosie the Riveter takes her name from the image of a famous World War II propaganda poster that promoted the slogan “We Can Do It.” But it has come to refer to the women who went to work in defense industries while men served overseas in the war. The American Rosie the Riveter Association, whose mission is to honor those women, is holding its convention in Portland June 9-11. Riding on the float will be actual women who worked during World War II, who are today in their late 90s and early 100s.
• TRANSIT UNION, FIRST TIME OUT Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 will participate for the first time this year. Members in union T-shirts will march with banners behind a 14-member youth dance drill team in partnership with the nonprofit Self-Enhancement Inc.
• PIPES AND DRUMS With support from their union Local 43, Portland Fire Fighter Pipes and Drums will make some noise alongside the Portland Police Highland Guard, just ahead of marchers from the Portland Fire Bureau and a vintage 1947 fire truck.

–DM